Scratch-off games comprising a substrate on which a scratchable rub-off coating is applied in order to hide instant prices in the form of a price amount, or a game symbol which is printed directly onto the substrate, are well known and commonly used by lotteries and advertising companies for promotional purposes. With such scratch-off games, the play essentially consists of scratching the rub-off coating or a part thereof in order to hopefully find that one of the instant prices has been printed on the substrate. If an instant price is found, the possessor of the scratch-off ticket wins that amount.
A game called Bingo is also well known. This game makes use of cards on which two dimensional grids form individual boxes. Each box has a randomly selected number printed therein. Bingo random numbers are drawn by some authority. A player marks the corresponding numbers on their card, trying to get a complete horizontal, vertical or diagonal row of the numbers marked. When a player accomplishes this objective, they win a price amount that is usually predetermined before the drawing of numbers starts.
Another scratch-off game comprises a substrate having a first grid of boxes printed thereon, containing winning or losing symbols which are randomly distributed. The first grid is hidden by a scratchable rub-off coating upon which another, second grid is printed and superimposed over the first grid. The second grid contains numbers sequentially printed in its boxes to allow identification of the boxes. In use, a plurality of numbers are drawn at random by some authority. Then, each player scratches the rub-off coating of the boxes bearing the numbers that are drawn in order to uncover the symbols printed within the corresponding boxes of the first grid. If a given number of winning symbols are uncovered, the player will win a specific price amount.
The second grid of numbers printed on the rub-off coating of all of these games is always the same, and only the first grid of randomly selected winning and losing symbols vary from one card to the other. In addition, there is only a single way of playing this scratch game.
A game of this type is disclosed in the Desbiens Reissue Patent No. 34,673, incorporated herein by reference. A two level scratch-off game is disclosed in which a second grid contains the same randomly selected numbers as the first grid. The second grid of numbers is printed on an opaque scratch-off coating covering the first grid. One aspect of the game is conducted as a standard Bingo type game in which selected numbers are scratched off by removing the second grid to reveal the same numbers in the underlying first grid. If the selected numbers form a row (horizontal, vertical or diagonal) a prize may be won. The second level of the game results from the presence of winning game symbols (e.g. price amounts) in the exposed first grid. If the appropriate number or type of symbols are exposed a prize may be won.
The removing of the second grid to reveal the same numbers in the first grid enables the playing to visually observe all of the numbers that have been selected.
In Pollard, U.S. Pat. No. 5,193,815 the opaque layer of the second grid is replaced with a scratch-off, translucent, colored layer. According to this patent, the play area or "user's card" of the bingo game has numbers printed on a substrate. The play area has a printed matrix which is covered by a single layer of material which is translucent, removeable by scratching and colored.
The single layer of material is translucent which allows viewing of the printed symbols and the colored layer therethrough. The coating is colored such that those portions of the colored layer whenviewed after removal of the coating are visually distinct from those portions of the colored layer when viewed through the coating.
Each of the above-mentioned patents provides a system by which the removal of the scratch-off layer in certain play areas or boxes provides a visual distinction with these areas in which the scratch-off layer has not been removed. However, each of the prior art systems places limits on the overall appearance of the scratch-off area and/or is relatively expensive to implement.
It would therefore be a significant advance in the art of producing scratch-off tickets, especially for a Bingo game type of format if a system of differentiating numbers in play from numbers which are not in play can be implemented in a cost efficient and effective manner.
It would be a further advance in the art of producing such scratch-off tickets if a system of differentiating numbers in play from those not in play could be developed which will enable elaborate graphic designs to be printed on the ticket such as those described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,704,647.